Date(s) Skied: Friday 1/2/08
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder, 20ish
Trip Report:
Met up with awf170 at 9:30 for a day at Crotched. Was surprised that they were charging their mid-week price of $45, so with the twofer coupon it made for an inexpensive few hours of skiing. Perhaps they weren't charging the Holiday rate because there really was only one trail from the top with any pitch to it. What looked to be there run with the most pitch right under the quad was getting groomed out when we started our day with a couple of snowcats, so we had hopes for skiing that, but one of the groomers left and it looked like they were in no hurry to open the trail before night skiing.
We did about five runs, once veering off a couple trails over skiers right from the blue cruiser, but found it pretty flat. So, we decided to take a grueling hike of five minutes up towards the true summit :lol: About half way up we saw some tracks leading into the woods and decided to explore some extreme Crotched mountain back country! Crotched had definitely received a good 6 to 8 inches from the NYE storm, but if there was two inches base underneath that snow, that was it. We wiggled our way through the rocks and stumps with the occasional boot deep turn that didn't make the bottoms of your skis scream. With some pruning, this area of the mountain actually could have some decent low angle woods. We encountered one massive drop of 18 inches and I did the honors of hop turning, landing on a small stump and ejecting to a face plant. I think Austin might have been jealous. :lol: Eventually we scraped our way back onto the trail with only minor ski base carnage and looped our back country adventure over to the mountain's venerable Final Frontier glade, which is essentially a trail with ten trees. Perhaps there was a sign, but no rope and after the first five turns of skiing on snowmaking blow in, it was 4-6 inches on top of grass the rest of the way to straight line.
We basically ended up spending the rest of the day on the one trail from the top, which though monotonous, had fantastic soft snow. Crowds were pretty minimal and for the vast majority of the time there would only be a handful of people in line for the lift. Only once were we paired up with another two skiers. The lodge seemed to more busy than the mountain, but even that wasn't too bad when we went in around noon.
From the looks of pictures and maps, the defunct East Side looks to have a bit more pitch and vert than the west side currently in use. You can't see much of it from the road and Austin was thinking about heading over to check it out. Maybe he'll have a report.
A fun three hours of skiing overall. Would've been nice if their trails had some character and weren't just wide cruising boulevards or if they had some bumps, but oh well, it was cheap, nearby and nothing up north in easy day trip range seemed worthy of the extra drive and money. For just a day to get out and exercise the legs, I might consider Crotched again at a discount.
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder, 20ish
Trip Report:
Met up with awf170 at 9:30 for a day at Crotched. Was surprised that they were charging their mid-week price of $45, so with the twofer coupon it made for an inexpensive few hours of skiing. Perhaps they weren't charging the Holiday rate because there really was only one trail from the top with any pitch to it. What looked to be there run with the most pitch right under the quad was getting groomed out when we started our day with a couple of snowcats, so we had hopes for skiing that, but one of the groomers left and it looked like they were in no hurry to open the trail before night skiing.
We did about five runs, once veering off a couple trails over skiers right from the blue cruiser, but found it pretty flat. So, we decided to take a grueling hike of five minutes up towards the true summit :lol: About half way up we saw some tracks leading into the woods and decided to explore some extreme Crotched mountain back country! Crotched had definitely received a good 6 to 8 inches from the NYE storm, but if there was two inches base underneath that snow, that was it. We wiggled our way through the rocks and stumps with the occasional boot deep turn that didn't make the bottoms of your skis scream. With some pruning, this area of the mountain actually could have some decent low angle woods. We encountered one massive drop of 18 inches and I did the honors of hop turning, landing on a small stump and ejecting to a face plant. I think Austin might have been jealous. :lol: Eventually we scraped our way back onto the trail with only minor ski base carnage and looped our back country adventure over to the mountain's venerable Final Frontier glade, which is essentially a trail with ten trees. Perhaps there was a sign, but no rope and after the first five turns of skiing on snowmaking blow in, it was 4-6 inches on top of grass the rest of the way to straight line.
We basically ended up spending the rest of the day on the one trail from the top, which though monotonous, had fantastic soft snow. Crowds were pretty minimal and for the vast majority of the time there would only be a handful of people in line for the lift. Only once were we paired up with another two skiers. The lodge seemed to more busy than the mountain, but even that wasn't too bad when we went in around noon.
From the looks of pictures and maps, the defunct East Side looks to have a bit more pitch and vert than the west side currently in use. You can't see much of it from the road and Austin was thinking about heading over to check it out. Maybe he'll have a report.
A fun three hours of skiing overall. Would've been nice if their trails had some character and weren't just wide cruising boulevards or if they had some bumps, but oh well, it was cheap, nearby and nothing up north in easy day trip range seemed worthy of the extra drive and money. For just a day to get out and exercise the legs, I might consider Crotched again at a discount.
